4Better Or Worse

0 commentsWorst fraternity hijinks: Kappa Alpha and Zeta Psi are suspended November 18 by their national headquarters and UVA's Inter-Fraternity Council after the frats post Halloween photos of an Uncle Sam in...

0 commentsBest sign we won't run out of water– this year: Governor Mark Warner lifts state bans on car washing, refilling swimming pools, and watering golf courses November 12, and City Council lifts...

0 commentsPublished November 14, 2002, in issue #41 of The Hook
Best midterm election for Republicans: While Virginia's Republican incumbents were expected to win, the party claims enough elections across the...

0 commentsBest university demonstration: Four hundred students, including members of the Black Student Alliance and the Griot Society, gather outside the offices of the Cavalier Daily at Newcomb Hall October...

0 commentsPublished October 31, 2002, in issue #39 of The Hook
Best collective sigh of relief: Two suspects, John Allen Muhammed and John Lee Malvo, are arrested October 24 in the sniper shootings.
Worst...

0 commentsWorst blow to the local economy: Despite this area's much vaunted desirability, Technicolor, Greene County's largest employer, announces its manufacturing division is heading for the greener pastures...

0 commentsWorst side effect of sniper terror: Police at schools and highway overpasses, and tips on how to avoid getting shot while pumping gas, such as crouching behind the gas tank or walking in a zigzag as...

0 commentsWorst terrorism since last October's anthrax attacks: A sniper in the D.C. to Fredericksburg area kills six and wounds two people as they pursue the normal activities of daily life.
Worst budget news...

0 commentsBest reversal of a trend in drought-stricken Charlottesville: On September 30, the water supply increases rather than decreases, thanks to last week's rains.
Worst result of recent rains: Residents...

0 commentsBest rumor for students: That UVA will shut down November 30 because of the water shortage. Provost Gene Block emails everyone in the university community September 23 to deny that one.
Worst rumor...

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Worst downward trend: The water level of local reservoirs, despite last weekend's rain, continues to fall.
Best NIMBY story of the week: John Grisham, keynote speaker at a September 14 Piedmont...

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Best lawsuit to make one wonder, "What would Jesus do?" More than 1 1/2 years after she quit teaching at Red Hill Elementary, Michelle Frilot sues Albemarle County for religious discrimination...

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Best evidence that this drought is nothing compared to the summer of 1930: While one 100-degree day per year is average, 1930 recorded 21 days over 100, including Virginia's high of 109 degrees,...

0 commentsBest official indication the drought is no joke: Mandatory restrictions went into effect August 23 for Charlottesville and Albemarle Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority customers. Forbidden are lawn...

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Worst display of the state slogan, "Virginia is for lovers": A Virginia couple is arrested in New York after allegedly having sex in the vestibule of St. Patrick's Cathedral while another man...

0 commentsWorst jail outbreak: Scabies, which had male Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail inmates quarantined for several weeks after the under-skin burrowing mites were brought into the jail in early...

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Best reckless, multiple-life-endangering police chase in a 30-foot motor home: Michael David Keys, accompanied by a seven-year-old child, flees from Augusta and Albemarle County police on July...

0 commentsBest 100-year anniversary: July 17, the date Willis Carrier invented air conditioning, the device that made summer in the South tolerable and that led to inevitable battles about whether it's too hot...

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Best case of landing on one's feet: Eavesdropper Edmund A. Matricardi, who resigned as head of Virginia's Republican Party, is hired by South Carolina Republicans.
Next best case of landing on...

0 commentsWorst place to need to go to the bathroom: Fridays After Five. The city drops public restrooms from a $1.5-million renovation of the Downtown Recreation Center because of cost, reports Jake Mooney in...

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Best press release of the week: Feisty Sprint, which recently went after Adelphia's phone customers, finds value in the WorldCom debacle. A June 26 release expresses the company's dismay at...

0 commentsWorst swipe at the League of Women Voters: City Council’s invitation to a League observer to attend the June 18 interviews with school board candidates that were closed to the public has some folks...

0 commentsBest opportunity for 15 seconds of fame: The Hook’s 24-hour webcam points at Main and Second streets on the Downtown Mall. Extra points if you happen to get hit by a bus while mugging for the camera...

0 commentsBest—er– worst sex scandal of the week: Speaker of the House of Delegates and nearby Amherst resident Vance Wilkins allegedly pays $100,000 to the female victim of his unwelcome gropes. The...

0 commentsBest news for City Councilor Meredith Richards: She’s the Democrat nominated to run against Republican Virgil Goode in the Fifth District congressional race.
Best news for Virgil Goode: He still owns...

0 commentsBest display of voter appreciation: Newly elected councilor Rob Schilling and his wife Joan stand on the corner of Ridge-McIntire and Preston the day after the election and hold up “Thank you” signs...

0 commentsWorst headline in a national story with a Charlottesville connection: “Child-killer fights neighborhood publicity” appears in the April 28 Washington Post, detailing Glenn Barker’s efforts to dispel...